The Read: Booksellers honor local authors

Two San Diego County authors, Debra Ginsberg and Tom McNeal, were winners over the weekend in the annual contest run by Southern California booksellers.

Ginsberg, who lives in Del Mar, won the T. Jefferson Parker Award for best mystery for "What the Heart Remembers," about a woman who has a heart transplant and begins dreaming of people she's never met and places she's never been.

McNeal, of Fallbrook, was selected in the best young-adult category for "Far Far Away," a contemporary fairy tale about a boy and a ghost and a town called Never Better. The book is also on the longlist of finalists for this year's National Book Award in Young People's Literature.

The awards from the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association are based on voting by bookstore employees. Authors have to reside in Southern California (from the Mexican border to Morro Bay) and their books must reflect "the Southern California culture or experience."

San Diego County was well-represented a year ago, too, and in the same categories. Don Winslow won the mystery award for "Kings of Cool" and Brian Selznick was honored in children's novels for "Wonderstruck."